The Ringer-Verse - ‘The Last of Us’ Season 2, Episode 4 Reactions | The Midnight Boys

Episode Date: May 5, 2025

The Boys are back and they’re diving into ‘The Last of Us’ Season 2, Episode 4. They discuss Ellie and Dina’s new relationship dynamics, as well as the things they’ve never experienced since they were born in the apocalypse. (0:00) Intro (4:00) Spoilers ahead (5:38) Initial reactions (59:30) Outro (1:02:58) Post credits Hosts: Van Lathan, Charles Holmes, Jomi Adeniran, and Steve Ahlman Producers: Aleya Zenieris, Jonathan Kermah, Chris Thomas, and Steve Ahlman Additional Production Support: Arjuna Ramgopal Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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You don't need WeatherTech unless you plan on doing summer. Visit weathertech.com today. Welcome into the Ringerverse. This is, of course, the Ringer's Nexus podcast feed for all things fandom. We are. Steve, the architect, the building,

and tinker of things. Jomi, the explainer at dinner on. You've got questions. He's got questions. He's got to answer. Van, he is the receding resurgent hairline.

Just to show you guys, we're still good. He's had to bring my hat back. Right. Co. Baby Chuck, the 24-carried closer. Together, we are known as.

I'm the midnight boys. Poooo! Pows on socials. Got to get a bear, poupo. The midnight boys. A-moo! You.

Bals on socials, Instagram, I've done that before. Guys, we interviewed the director of Thunderbolts. It was a lot of fun. That's coming tomorrow

because they've already heard us talk about the movie on Friday. Yeah. Yeah. A lot of that stuff coming on the socials. Make sure you follow.

I'm not going to lie. Doing these podcasts does feel like I'm a time traveler. Like, I'd be talking like we don't record this like to come to you from the past. I got to be honest with you. There's one question that I think is going to resonate with audiences more than any other,

because I'm starting to see a narrative pop up. Oh. Charles had a brilliant question that he was able to ask Jake, the director of the Thunderbolts, which is about how he feels about the Thunderbolts kicking centers out of IMAX. Yeah, our people are not happy, bro. They are not happy, yo. Honestly, shout out to Jake because he was very difficult. He knew I'd answer that question.

Very diplomatic. Kaleika and I watched the entire 10-minute Ryan Cougler-Codak video. She hadn't seen it. Oh, the breakdown of the film. Wait, what did she think of it? Well, she was enthralled. Yeah.

Like, the video made her emotional for some reason. She was enthralled. She also was complaining because she wants to see it in 70 again. We saw it in 70 at the L.A. premiere. she wants to see it in 70 again, and she can't. She went with their friends, and they tried, they saw it. She wants to see it in 70 again. She can't see it in 70 again because everything sold out.

They're definitely bringing it. I feel like they got to bring it back later this year. That's what they were, that's what she was asking. She was asking whether or not they would bring it back. And I was like, you know, you got to make room for the thunderbolts. The thunderbolts is good. It's very good. It's good.

She wasn't very receptive to that, though. Right. They didn't like it. She said, fuck them. Thunderbows. They like it. We're on YouTube. Like, comment.

Subscribe, share. You can watch every Midnight Boys and House of Art episode on YouTube.com backslash at Ring ofverse and also on Spotify. Programming reminders. We're reminding you

what's on the feed today. Oh, baby. Programming reminders, reminding you what's on the feed this week. This week, the House of Art gives you their latest. Last of Us deep dive.

A lot of stuff to Deep dive. A lot of stuff happening in The Last of Us. God damn. Jesus. Monday, we have a special spoiler-filled interview with Thunderbolts director, Jake Shrier. And we'll have Andor reactions and deep dives for you.

Quick thing here. Is Andor getting washed over? A little bit. I feel like it almost always is by stuff. A little. Because I feel like between Last of Us, Thunderbolt, Sinners. Yeah. It's kind of lost in the sauce.

I mean, three episodes, you know what I'm saying? There's a lot of it each week. So, I mean, like, everything else is, I mean, aside from sinners, the thing else is a little bit of a quick hitter versus you got to sit down, three hours of Andor. And the way, honestly, the way Tony Gilroy is talking, he's like, I made my show, I got my, I'm out. He's like, fuck.

But on today's show, we're going to give you our instant reactions to the latest episodes of The Last of Us. We're going to spoil everything. in the show and in the game up to where we are in the show. We're not going to go forward. We don't forward to spoil as far as the game is concerned. But if you haven't seen the stuff behind it, we will spoil that shit and we don't give a fuck.

Steve, we're getting ready to talk about You're listening to a reaction podcast. The spoilers are coming. I'll put you in the know. The only way to do that is the Midnight Manifest, The only person who can do that is Chuck Wacking. Chuck, take it away. All right.

This is a Midnight Manifest for The Last of Us, episode four, directed by Kay Aaron, written by Craig Mason. We're finally introduced to Isaac, a ruthless WLF member who hates Fedra. In the present, Isaac tortures a seraphite who calls a scar for information on their next attack against its people. Meanwhile, Ellie and Deanna searched Seattle for any clues to the WLF's whereabouts. After Ellie throws Dean on a mini-concert to do-find the aftermath of a massacre in an abandoned building. The seraphites have gutted W&D. LF soldiers and hung them by their necks as a warning. Ellie and Dina are found by the WLF,

killed two soldiers as they mount their escape, but underground Ellie is bitten by a zombie. On the brink of killing her best friend, Ellie convinces Dina not to shoot her because, ta-da, she's immune. After realizing Ellie is telling the truth, Dina and her do the freak nasty, and then she's like, I'm pregnant.

And that has been your midnight manifest for episode four, The Last of Us. Then, this is our second episode of, like, Last of Us 2.0 with, Ellie, Dina, leading a lot of the story. Where are you at? What were your thoughts?

Okay. I'm going to give a big picture thought. Then I'm going to get into a little bit more granular stuff because I also want to make sure that we have a robust discussion about Jeffrey Wright in this show. Wow. What a debut. What a fucking debut. This show right here was very important in the whole last of a show. and then prestige television period.

This is one of the more important episodes of a prestige television show that I can remember. We talked about here on this fucking podcast, Alea, Kerm, appreciate you guys. We talked about... What was that? I'm just going to say,

Alea and Kerm's names throughout the entire podcast, okay? You were coming real hot there. I was like, God damn, what did we say about that? I apologize. There's such an intensity there. I wasn't ready for that. We talked about on this podcast how the last of us did something that not a lot of other prestige shows have done, which is to kill a big name actor-protagonist, right?

It's one thing to kill your main character, right? It's another thing to kill your main character when that character is such a big star. It's big of a star as Pedro Pascal is right now. You're talking about Brian Cranston's Walter White, James Gandalfini, as Tony Sopranos a big deal. The question is, can the show live on and be entertaining and compelling without that character?

Now, the last episode was, however, it was still in the wake of that having happened. This show begins the new narrative of The Last of Us. We kind of get back to the old formula of the show, and it was one of the best episodes

of this show with that formula. We're talking about two people on the road relying on one another and using their bond or excuse me not using their bond but their bond being central to the action that was going on it's a different bond than ellian and joel thank god but it is still to me uh the same type of tension that you got in the first season but the extra added dimension deepened my intrigue into what was going on instead of a wolf and cub, it is like the cub is coming and like

Ellie's learning how to become a wolf, you know? It's not wolf and cub, it's two scissors. All right. Stop it. Can we just, can we be adults on this episode? Man, man, it's not even an animal. Can we be adults?

I apologize. Alain Kerm, I'm sorry. That's not, what is, that's not Sajy, Sajie. What would be the word? That's not Sajie at all. That's not, but two scissors is crazy, bro. I love the part where they were insanely horrible.

When they were walking through Pride land in Seattle and they didn't realize that it was... Capital Hill. That's actually, like, crazy important. That's probably, like, one of the most powerful things... Talk about it. After, like, the, well, like, the big affirmation of their connection at the end is when, like, they have sex and she reveals that... Ellie reveals that she's immune and Dina reveals that she's pregnant. It's, like, not only, like, an extension of trust, but an extension of, like, connection and love between them.

And when they go through what would assumedly be, like, Capitol Hill, the, like, you know, the pride part of Seattle, they don't know what all of that iconography is. They don't know what that means. I was trying to break it down, like, time-wise, on our timeline. When was, like, the pride... Can we look it up?

Like, when was the pride flag, like... Adopted? Like, adopted. Is that come from Stonewall? No. No. I don't think so. I think the, like, Stonewall...

Because the world ends in 2011 in last year. Oh, the pride flag was created in the 70s. Yeah, so how did they not... Well, how did they not? know? Well, they were kids. Yeah, and they were kids. They grew up in the apocalypse after the world ended and it's really illustrative of the fact that So that didn't keep the pry flat going? Doesn't seem to be. In the show, the Last of Us,

the cortis virus outbreak began in 2003. Right. So they were children when not all went down. I mean, we see Seth. So homophobia made a big comeback. Right. And Ellie and Dina were born in after the wake of this. Oh, okay. So they were born significantly, not, they weren't,

they weren't even babies. They were born into the apocalypse world. Yes. So a lot of things from, Oh, okay, that makes sense. And that's a thing that, like, shows like Station 11 do that where they talk about, like,

what is missing in the worlds of, like, the generations that are raised in the apocalypse versus before the apocalypse. People like Seth, people like Joel, they carry all those things of a world that was versus a world that currently is. And when they see,

when Dina and Ellie see like all these pride flags and those things and they don't know what it means it means that like okay so the sense of community and the sense of ownership of identity has been lost and they'll explore it and find it together and right then exactly and when Dina is like no my mom told me that I just like boys when I said that I like boys and girls like there's like an identity of bisexuality that is just straight up like not acknowledged or not my mom so fucked up in the apocalypse like I'm just like bruh there's

mushroom people walking around. How you thought? You know what I'm saying? What the fuck are you doing? I want to explore this. I want to explore homophobia in the apocalypse because homophobia,

let's be clear. Homophobia is not okay. When it's not an apocalypse, I'm just saying like, no, no, no, I was saying that it was cool. What? What? What?

You know the comments? They're going to be like, so homophobia's cool when there's not mushroom people around? God, damn it. damn it! No, he's right. No, he's right.

Right. No, it's, but it's, it's, it's an interesting thing that a lot of these, uh, societal structures are so durable that they lasted throughout the entire apocalypse. But I guess, you know, that's kind of how we are as people. And that's kind of what the show's about a lot of it. I will say, but it is, it is interesting, like, to your point, I thought it was just like them seeing this rainbow and not knowing what it is. and if I could be on serious for a moment,

if I was leading my people, you know, during the apocalypse, can you imagine how much shit that you could adopt that, like, homies don't know? Like, you could, like, throw up the rock, you know, as the symbol. And they're like, damn, that's cold. And that's your cult leader. And then, yeah, you know what I'm saying? Like, you could do the Wakanda for a other.

They like, damn, you came up with that. I'm like, yeah, that's how me from. That's all that's all me. The Seral fights are just people who saw the Dark Night. Oh, wait, you think their little God was just like really was in the Heath Ledger. Jami's got a point. 2003.

Because I was thinking about this. The Dark Night didn't come out. Wait. They didn't even get, they didn't even get Batman. They didn't get Batman again. When did the Dark Night come out? 2008. 2008.

And the quarter steps, because I looked this up when I was watching the episode. Yeah. I'm like, because she's going through the music. And I'm like, yo, this happened in 2003. They only got Baumart. They ain't listen to Get Richard Die trying. Oh, but it turns out they might have because they get Richard Die trying.

came out in February 2003, and according to the Googles I did, Corteuseps took over September 24th, 2003. Ah, but this makes me think something. They got spared Kanye. Ooh. Because a college dropout doesn't come out until 2004, I think. Right. But there's a May 2003.

So there's no, there's no, so Kanye in the apocalypse is somewhere right now being the most annoying member of Fedra. Imagine just one veteran in a pink polo? Yeah. To know that he's preserved in 2003 with a pink polo and nothing else. Or he might have his own Nazi group. You never know. He's a fucking Nazi.

I don't give a fuck. Well, I will also just say these motherfuckers never saw Avengers. They never got one with them. They never got Avengers. Nope. Iron Man. Did they even get Spider-Man 2? They didn't get Spider-Man 2. They didn't come out.

That's crazy. They was waiting for it. They was waiting for Sparterman. Spider-Man 2 to drop. And this was, this was some guys, because Spider-Man 2 was probably finished. This was some guy's biggest deal. Like, they was getting shuffled off to some camp somewhere, and they were thinking, damn, we're not even going to get to see Spider-Man 2.

If it was me and then we'll get back to the show, if I'm Fedra, I'm rolling up to, like, Universal Pictures, Disney, whatever. I'm taking all the dancers. You're the man. Imagine you got, you're like, yo, they didn't even drop by Spider-Man. To be furious? Yeah, bro. That already dropped.

That came out. That was 99. It was 99. 99 or 2000. Yeah. It was like 99 to 2000. Something like that. Too fast to furious.

These are motherfuckers was 03. Yeah. But anyway, back. What? The first one? Too fast two years was in 03. 2001. So they would have got it.

Yeah, but then two fast two fiercers is 03. So look, let's go back to the beginning of the episode now that we had a midnight tangent. You can call those midnight dreams now. Wait, can we start with Isaac? So I was confused. Was Isaac, did he infiltrate Fedra? And was that like, was he in Fedra? And basically like, that woman needed basically him to throw that grenade in there to show that he's fully WLF?

Or was that, like, I didn't realize what. I think it's to be assumed that he had since defected from. Or was he like a mold, that was his defection. Oh, that was his defections. That's probably what the mission he had to execute. Okay. To prove that he was one of them. So he had probably been in contact with them.

You could tell that he was a little disaffected when he was riding in the car with the guys. He was sick of their bullshit. That seemed was great, though. That was Josh Peck. I was like, I was like, that's not Josh Peck. Josh Peck doing here. I thought the other dude that he took with him was going to be the op. I thought, because he wasn't really laughing at all the jokes.

No. So I thought he would be the one who was like start shooting or whatever. Like when he asked a question, it wasn't until you, you, you, you, go over and you see Jeffrey Wright, I'm like, oh, okay, I see what happens. He saves that guy because he was unsullied. Exactly. Well, I also thought what was really interesting about that moment is like Josh Peck is calling civilians voters.

And it's this moment where it's like, oh, these motherfuckers got to go. Like this is like a totalitarian regime, whatever. And I thought it was so smart that when they fast forward, he started to call the seraphite scars. Like they're not even people to them. anymore. And it's just like, I was just like, oh, that is such a economical and beautiful way of kind of like illustrating, all right, this was a man that was righteous at one point. And slowly but surely the years, it's just like they were, he replaced.

Also, it's one of the most inconvenient truths in the world. Indctrination is indoctrination. Yeah. And in order to be truly committed to a cause, you have to be. indoctrinated. You have to. And it doesn't matter what that cause is, even if the cause is considered righteous. Remember, one person's righteous cause is another person's oppression, right? But if you sit down to, this might be uncomfortable for some people to hear, if you sit down to a young Marine or a young member of the armed services and we, these are people that go out and

protect Americans, when you listen to them, they have got to be indoctrinated into a certain belief system to go out there and do the things that they're being asked to do. So when we see him in the context of the world that we've observed in The Last of Us, he seems like somebody who is cool because he's upholding democracy, or he seems to be, democracy and the idea of the world that we know, right? But by the time you get to him, that belief is making him do unconscionable things, unconscionable that was when I was worried

because I was like damn this episode's low Y-A and when that motherfucker starts talking about them pots I was into that conversation I was like you're not cutting to who he's talking to for quite a long time so it's gonna be bad

when you see who he's talking to I was really afraid I'm like please don't put that hot that hot frying pan on this motherfucker's nuts that was my first thing too I was like please I would only go so far

we can only go so far but here's the thing though that guy didn't ask for a prosthetic not the... Well, you don't know if it's a problem. It could have been.

Yeah, it could have been. If it was a prostate, they didn't do that man, right, man. What you're saying is, if you're an actor, when you're asking for a prostate, you're like, all right, give me a couple of it.

That shit got a lay. That shit got a lay to the side. If you go shoot me, like, that shit got a lay. That's brave, though. Shout to him. Like, if that shit got a leg. But here's the thing,

he was, he was a G. Because that motherfucker, he burned his hand once. And then he's like, I was like, like, I was like, All right. I believe.

That was real. For real. The scars. The scars. The seraphites have done some pretty fucked up things in the show. I mean, because we saw that they disembowed all those guys and they hung them. When Ellie and Dina are escaping Fedra and they come upon the seraphites, that's Fedra that's chasing them, right? No.

No, W. W. W. W. The W. W. when they come upon the people that the seraphites have disemboweled, obviously they are capable of horrific things as well.

Yeah. I got to be honest with you. It seems to me that they kind of geez. I don't know. I don't know why I, at this point, are siding with the serifite? And somewhat sympathetic to the serifite. Well, because the WLF part of their group didn't go off and kill Joel.

That's true. But I will say, to your point, when the serifite was like, amen, all I could tell. tell you, a lot of your motherfuckers coming to my side. Nobody from my side going over there. I was like, I like him. This is the thing where we get into, like, they start to argue about the chicken egg, who started this, who, why are we fighting, who, who started what?

You trained them to attack us. We trained them to attack you. And it's that sin begets sin, circular motion that we talk about in Game of Thrones and all these other shows where they're like, they start to forget why they're fighting and then they just know that they need to fight. Oh, well, they start, they, they, They remember why they're fighting, but they don't remember the cause. Yes.

This is a thing, and I'm going to, I'm going to use a real world example. My man, Glasses Malone. Glasses Malone, don't Google Glasses. Glasses Malone is a rapper, bro. That's my God. I'm sure you're going to tell me. Google Glasses Malone. Google Glasses Malone in the middle of pockets.

It's crazy. I was going to listen, but I just wanted to get more context. He is one of the smartest people I know, right? He's also an L.A. street expert. Okay. And so a lot of times I'll be having conversations with glasses about the streets because Jomey, shout out to everyone who grew up in L.A. I don't understand how y'all remember all of these neighborhoods.

The neighborhoods were the hats you cannot wear. All of that stuff. I'll be talking to glasses and glasses will be like, nah, yeah, you can't go to that area. That area is 6th Avenue hardhead gangster Crip. I'd be like, what? He'd be like, yeah. And then like two blocks later. He's like, nah, no, no, no.

Those are the 9th Avenue, sunrise, bloodless crips. I'd be like, what? Bloodless crips. You know what I'm saying? It's like a different thing. So me and him talk a lot about, when I talk about the reason why these sets are into it with each other, it's never their bloods, weird crips, or they're from here, they're from here. It's always something that happened that's very intimate.

It's always this person got killed at this party or this. This person got killed and this dope deal gone bad. So the greater mission of we don't like this gang thing is not why they're fighting. They're fighting because they just got attacked. They're fighting because y'all killed my boy. Then you kill their boy. And then the most recent reason. The most recent reason is the reason to fight.

It's very rarely, very rarely between this type of sectarian violence is very, very rarely about a grander ethos. It's about the fact that you did me. Now, I'm going to do you. It's petty. That's why it takes a figure that's transcended to stop it. I mean, but what I think is so important about that is in this episode. I was almost like caught off guard because Ellie and Dina go in there.

And Dina is just like, yo, what are we going to do if we run into some wolves? It's like, I don't kill them motherfuckers. And when they actually do, like, Dina shoots one and Ellie nice one. I'm just like, how is this any different from Joel? It's the same thing. Going into that hospital and killing a bunch. Because I'm just like, these aren't the soldiers that you're looking for.

And I kind of get, I might not know, it might be revealed that I'm wrong. I kind of got the, I was under the impression, Abby and her group were on a revenge mission that the other wolves might have not been. They're like, yeah, if you want to go do that, go do that. But it wasn't like, they were like, had a bunch of arms and a bunch of other shit. I see what you're saying, but I think in that moment when you,

you know that they know, but they just seen like whole bunch of dead bodies. And if you're around there, they might just start shooting to ask questions. You might be like, hey, my fault, man, I'm innocent. We're just walking around here. We're just walking through, but it looks suspicious. They might just, no, no, no.

I get it from that standpoint, but I was a little caught off guard because I'm just like, this is the reason the council was like, y'all don't need to go do this. Because the wolves aren't going to care. If they're like, well, you guys were like hunting us down and you guys were going to kill us,

they're going to be like, yo, you just killed these men. You came into our territory. What the fuck is happening? And like, part of this revenge mission that Ellie is on, I think the interesting thing story-wise is like, I'm not on board with Ellie. Like, a lot of the choices that she's making, even when Dina's just like, I'm pregnant,

I'm just like, oh, y'all are still like kids. I'm just like, the minute Dina says, I'm pregnant, I'm like, y'all should have been out of there. And like, Ellie tries to be like, yo, Dina, think about this. I'm like, Ellie, you need to take her and y'all need to get on that horse and need to go back to fucking Jacksonville. Like, get the fuck out of here. Yeah, I mean, Ellie, does Ellie even believe what she wrote down on that paper? No, she doesn't believe.

No. She's doing what she's doing for a very selfish reason. And it's going to kick up a bunch of fucking shit. It goes back to what we just discussed. what are personal reasons for all it is fighting, and then what are reasons that are grander than that? Because if you're prioritizing things that put people first, then you're prioritizing safety and cooperation and sacrifice.

Those are the things that kind of put people first. Everything else that puts you first, which is revenge, which is emoting, which is retribution, all of those things are corrosive. It doesn't matter whether or not we're living in a contemporary society or the apocalypse, those things are corrosive. And what's happening between Ellie and Dina right now is that they are on a very corrosive mission that is forming them as people.

They're becoming more evolved people. Their relationship is deepening. Their resilience is deepening. But the stakes of their world and the decisions that they've made are becoming more drastic because this mission, to your point, Charles, is not righteous.

It is born out of revenge and it is born... There's no justice. There's no justice in it. Only personal justice. You know what I mean? So when you watch the show, it's an interesting watch,

watching them crawl, watching them do all of this and thinking, they didn't got themselves and some shit that they have no fucking business getting themselves into. I mean, I feel bad even for, like, Jesse.

Like, I'm assuming Jesse doesn't even know that he has a child on the way. And I'm just like, there's a, there's a chance that these two, I was scared for, I'm like, y'all might not make it back the Jackson Hole. Like, there was a moment where I was just like, like, it's hard for me to root for Ellie and Dina. Like, I'm rooting for them because I want them to be safe, but there wasn't, I'm like, why are you making these stupid decisions? Yeah, obviously, you don't want them to die. But, yeah, I mean, so in the game, at least up to this point, they don't, we, it's, we haven't talked about her getting the infected.

or her getting bit and then her finding out. So in the game, it's, there's spores, right? And so she breathes, breathes in,

they go to the theater. What do you mean? So in the game, it's spores, right? You breathe. It's not cordyceps. It's an airborne.

It's airborne. You can still get bit, but the only way in the movie, in the game, or in the show is to get bit. In the game, you breathe the spores in, right?

Well, then how you pose the, well, what you mean? Gas masks. You don't have to wear a gas mask everywhere? Not everywhere, but like in highly more infected areas, that's where gas max comes in. Yeah. Oh.

Right. At that point, we never be in this. Yeah, we've got to. We fucking cooked. How do you know where the spores are? That's a game. I mean, the game, it gets hazing the game, whatever. It's stuff and, you know, obviously you don't want to, they don't want to do a command of situation in everybody with

masks on all the time. But in the game, the mask breaks. They go back and she's like, you're what's up. It's like, no, I'm good. Like, I'm not, I'm not affecting. You see, I'm not coughing, whatever. I'm pregnant.

Boom. They have like a little moment, but it's really not that deep. In the show, I think they improved on it. I don't want to say like, like 10-fold or whatever, but it's way more meaningful because she saves her life, like, in the turnstile, gets bit. And then, uh, uh, Dina's like, I'm got to kill you. That's what we do.

I gotta have this moment She's like, no, let me Just give me a second Don't do it I'm gonna sit down I'll show you I'm not infected It happens She doesn't get infected

And then in that moment Watching her not get infected Dina goes, oh, I actually I'm imagining life without this person I can't live without this person I think it's wild to say I'm pregnant and then sleep with somebody But hey, it's the apocalypse, whatever

That moment That moment between those two characters just like I thought was really spelled to your play. Incredibly powerful. Deano. Leveled up. I'm like, I'm like, you can't drop it.

I'm pregnant. That's my one note. She found out that day. That's fair. If I have one note, you wait too after. Hey, that was great last night at a good time. By the way, I'm also pregnant, but it's cool. Wait, I don't know if I co-sign that either.

So you don't, you got to tell her. You got to tell her, but I'm just. just like, we could wait until we back on the road. You ain't got to be like, come on. I mean, if this is the most heat of the most moment. Yeah. It was a lot. It's a lot going on. Hey, here's the thing, Ellie,

I love Ellie. Because you like, guess I'm a daddy now. I was like, hey, I'm like, hey, she's not the stepfather. She's the father who stepped up. For real. They got the nice little thing going on there, but. She said we. She kept saying we. But she didn't even think about it. It wasn't even like,

That's a girl. That also shows you the difference between ladies and fellas. Because Ellie's right there ready. Like with a dude, it's like you, you know, I guess when I'm pregnant, whoa. Whoa! Except for one guy I knew named Pistol. What? Why did they call him Pistol?

Gee, why did they call him Pistol? They called him Pistol for a reason. But one guy knew named Pistle, he's like, yeah, bro, you know, she's pregnant, bro. And I was like, what are you going to do? He's like, I'm going to go back there and take my advantage back. So he felt like having sex with her while she was pregnant made her his again. Why would you bring the sage in? Why would you even bring that story to the hockey?

That's so. Why would you even bring that? It was funny. No. Because the dude that the baby is actually for never knew that it was his baby. He was a baby. Pistol raised the baby. Pistol's doing good. And the baby saved Pistow's life, my guy Pistol. The baby saved his life.

Saved his life. Like, he was like, yeah, he loved her. She got pregnant by somebody else. He was like, I'm sorry, this is a funny story. He's like, I got to go over there and hit tonight. I got to go. Is it funny? He's like, I got to take it back.

Is it funny? He had to reestablish. But then they were together and they got married and, you know, Pistol became a great dad. Well, all I will say, if this was my show, they would have woken up the next day. Adida would have looked over, and Ellie would have been trying to stick away.

Like, you're not trying to like. Hey, you're away. So the tension over the bite was really great. Yeah, really good. It was so great because that was great acting. by the actress that plays Dino. What's her name? Isabel Merset.

It's Merset. Because she is dealing with so much. There's so much she's dealing with that we don't even know she's dealing with because she's pregnant. She knows that she's pregnant. Her best pal that she agreed to come on this mission with is now bitten. She doesn't want to do what she has to do. And the whole time, she's not sure whether or not to believe that Ellie is immune.

But now she also has to deal with the fact that this whole time, Ellie's been immune. And Ellie didn't tell nobody. Right. So that's going to probably come up and be a greater source of intrigue and questions. It didn't seem to strike her in the moment that that seemed to be. Not in the moment. No.

I mean, that might come to fruition later. But it seems to me that, like, what was great about that scene is the interaction between Isabella and Bella, because there's nothing but, like, fear. Like, Ellie's only projecting fear for Dina at that point. And Dina is only projecting her fear on to Ellie because she thinks that she has to kill her. And there's this great moment where, like, the light, she wakes back up after that nap and the light's shining on her,

and you only can see, like, the light in the gun, you can't see her face. You can't see her face. And then the second she turns that light off, like, her face is like, she hasn't gotten a wink of sleep. She's only been staring at her. Her face is, like, bedraggled and sad. And Isabel has done an amazing job with just showing abject fear.

and then in the next moment, kind of pushing that away and just being that smiling, bubbling Dina that Ellie can easily fall in love with. That scene and the scene where she's, Ellie is playing Take On Me on guitar. I got to talk about that. And we'll talk about,

we'll talk about the work that Bella Ramsey's doing in that scene. But the way she's able to emote without, like, it's all in the eyes, not saying a word. and how she's looking at Ellie. And, I mean, it just takes a second. You're like, she's in love with her. There's a lot of, like,

grants taking a lot of, like, playing around. But I haven't seen somebody do that much work and say so much without saying anything in a long time. She is killing it. I mean, I think what's interesting to me is the first season of Last of Us, Ellie having to hide

that she's immune is very much like a story plot device of like she can save humanity and in this I think they keep reinforcing episode after episode that this has now become a metaphor for being closeted and this was like the first episode where I'm like

oh now I'm understanding why Dina is so like why they're so attracted to each other because I'm just like oh Dina was in the closet and she had to hide something for years and years and years of her life. And she sees something in Ellie where it's like, you know, Ellie gets to live her truth.

Ellie is super just like she doesn't give a fuck whatever. But then there's that there's that other level of like, oh, she is actually hiding something. Right. It's just not what I thought. Like, it's the fact that like she probably could have saved humanity. And I'm just like, oh, this is true love because like Dina doesn't care. I think that thing that's connecting them is just like, oh, like together we don't have to,

you don't have to listen to tell. being like, we can't tell anybody about you anymore. And it's also very interesting. You mentioned that being a metaphor for being clausted. There's one thing that I actually did forget to mention when we were talking about them, not knowing like the pride iconography and everything, that when the apocalypse happens, gay marriage isn't legal. And that's a level of like marginalization that queer people have had and then calcified

since the apocalypse. And then since that this level of like incorruptibility, let's say, that Ellie has with her immunity that can actually, not even so much literally save the world as in giving a vaccine, but kind of be a symbol for the level of humanity that can actually be preserved and evolve past an apocalypse. And it starts with interactions like this. So we had some more growing up to do. And in the middle of that, gosh, it's mushroom.

Interesting points all around, especially like when we're talking about, the reality of them coming to terms with their identities and the secrets that they exposed to one another, them being together was almost like a celebration of not having any secrets anymore. It was a very physical and emotional celebration of, you know everything there is to know about me, I know everything there is to know about you.

And it will be interesting the way the show changes as things are deep into now. I mean, it just is interesting. Well, it changes a lot. I mean, in the moment, when they see the attack going on in Seattle, and they're ready to go, and Ellie's like, well, hold on, let's keep you, let's keep you right here. But they decide that, you know, they're in it together.

They got to finish together. But, I mean, I think, I would hope Ellie's taking a lot more care of Dina, knowing what we've known right now. It's, this is such, it was such a devastating thing that Ellie said. at the end of the episode where it's like, you don't have to go with me at the end of this. I'm like,

that's not like you're still finding reasons. You're still finding justifications. It should be we don't have to go because it's different now. Also, you don't have to go because it's different now. Dina's fucking pregnant. If you go and get your self-killed,

how is she going to make it back to Jackson Hole? Like, what are you doing? She might be able to ride back, right? The women can do things. Yes. I mean, there are there,

there's serfights running around. Ha-ha. There's serfights running around? Unwow. There's fucking WLF. There's a raid. Hey, let me tell you something right now. Okay.

Back in the hunter-gatherer days, everyone acts like that the pregnant women just stayed back and didn't do anything. The men were off fighting boars and yes, gorillas. But the reality is the women were doing maybe more than the men. I would say more. And let me tell you why. because not only were they looking after everything and preparing food and taking care of young,

that's what they were also doing, hunting and gathering. They were hunting small game like little wabbits. They were gathering up things to eat and stuff. They were doing stuff, Charles. And guess what? Were there fucking mushrooms zombies everywhere? Where there were mushrooms?

No, there wasn't. But yes, they were tigers. Fucking mannors and things of that nature. I don't know if they were. During the time of the Willie Mammoth, I don't think they were humans yet. Well, no, there were humans. They were like Neanderthals, right?

Neanderthals are definitely not humans. So, I mean, yeah. Well, they're Neanderthals are not human like. Willie Mammots and humans coexist for tens of thousands of years. Okay, okay, cool. Okay, so there you go. So, but yeah, so they were looking after. So what you're telling me is your pregnant lover is, like,

you find out she's pregnant. You're just like, you know what? I'm going to put you back on this horse, go back to Jack's hole. I gotta go on the mission. I'm gonna be real with you. This belief that pregnant women can't do stuff. What did I say that?

This is a contemporary belief. I did not say that. They've been putting on for a long time doing different stuff. Ain't that right, Leia? Silence. Silence. Exactly. Exactly.

It's not going to help you the way you think it is. But yeah, that was me trying to, I was trying to be evolved, but I fail all the time. Always improve it. Yeah, always be like Ellie, you know. Step up. But here's the thing. Unlike Ellie, we're going to take a beat to think about all of our things we just say and go to a quick commercial. This episode is brought to you by Spectrum Business.

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Jeffrey Wright's character's name is, what again? Isaac. Isaac. Okay, so, Isaac. Are we on a collision course with Isaac? What does the introduction of Isaac's character demonstrate to our protagonists? When, I mean, you guys have played the game. I'm assuming Isaac is in the game.

Isaac is in the game, also voiced by Jeffrey Wright. Oh, fantastic. Oh, look at that. Serendipitous. But it's like, I'm wondering as someone who hasn't played the game, how Isaac and our people end up on a collision course together. Well, I mean, obviously, they got to go kill Abby and Owen and all those guys. I don't think Isaac would love that, right, considering he's already got to deal with the seraphites. But I think what that scene in particular does is just show the ruthlessness of Isaac and what he's willing to do and how those people believe in the mission, right?

Remember, I mean, the whole spiel about the cookware and everything I thought was great. But just the like, all right, cool, this is a regular de gala. I'm a brand new. You didn't tell me. I'm frustrated. Boom, I'm shoot you. I think the thing that's really telling is a guy outside that he saved was just like, yeah, man, he had to do it.

I don't know what to tell you about guys. This is what we do. This is how it has to get done. And it's just like really grim and really dark and really, really, really sets the tone for who Isaac is and why we should be scared. Right. If he crosses past with Dean and Ellie, it might be bad. What happened if you were just to fetch your agent at that moment?

He was just like, man, I was just like, man, I was. and laughing. I'm like, shit, I was tired. I was taking a nap. And he just, you know what I'm saying? You just like, shit, bro. He just talks about grenades, dude, and you're like, hey, bro, I always just trying to get a check.

By the way, they were kind of slow on the uptake there. Yeah, yeah. He tossed a couple of grenades in there and it took them niggas and a couple of seconds. Does it lock from the outside? Yeah. So, like, nobody was kicking or doing nothing. He ran up to the front. Bad news bears.

But the scene is so interesting because Isaac, comes across as someone who is both against the idea of people being labeled voters because they took place in democracy and against the idea of killing someone who he feels like doesn't deserve it because the guy that was the newer guy that was in there that eventually becomes hardened and indoctrinated as well was someone that was too green to the way things are, the status quo, and he allowed them to live, and then gave him a choice when they were on the outside of the truck, which it's always so breathtaking to me when a character has that type of moral ambiguity. He murdered all those guys in cold blood, became exactly the

thing that he was critiquing, softly critiquing while he was inside there with them. However, he didn't do it to anyone that he did not feel like deserved it, which tells me that they're might be a point to where he can look at someone and go, you are my enemy, but you don't deserve to be slaughtered in a way. And it's interesting that we meet him, when we're first introduced to him, years before that interrogation scene, because that ideology may have changed and morphed into something that's a bit more hard. Well, not necessarily, because the whole time he's talking to that guy, he's actually demonstrating why the guy does deserve it. Right. Why this, why the seraphites or the scars or whatever, he's ruthless about it.

Right. But the entire time that he's talking to him, he's giving what he feels like is his rationale to why this guy should be tortured. But then when we have that interrogation scene, there, he's talking to him and he's just like, well, we started this and you started that and all this and this and this. They're getting bogged down in the most recent reason rather than what somebody was the genesis of the problem. why we call them voters.

He never forgot something like that. He seemed to forget where all of this started. If he even was taking that mantle on in the first place. The only thing I'd say, I agree with you, the only thing I'd say is, yeah, he's getting bogged down in the most recent reasons, but he's still trying to prevent what is in an attack or a raid or he wants to know where they are.

So I guess we're kind of, my thing is when I think about the character, I think about reasons that he might, let Abby, excuse me, Ellie, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, I mean, the thing that my favorite thing in zombie, just like literature, movies, TV or whatever is leaders are always trying to litigate what is civilization and who is upholding civilization. And I think for Isaac, democracy is the thing and just like civility and trying to uphold the old world. And obviously the seraphites have,

branched off. Because I think it's always interesting, like, what happens to human when everything falls apart? Some go to religion, some try to just like military, whatever. And I'm like, to your point about like, what are they, what is he going to do about Ellie and, um, and Dina? Isaac might still look at them as just like, they're still quote unquote civilized. They still remind me of the old world. I don't want to have to do this. Versus the seraphites quite literally have a physical demarcation showing, we branched off from 2003, where something different. Which I always am just like, I think that's great.

Because even with Isaac, I'm like, what separates Isaac from someone like Joel? Because one of the last things we hear from Joel, at least in the first episode of the season, is him kind of being like, close off the walls. We don't want anybody in here. He's trying to save his little pocket. And Isaac, to me kind of like reminds me a little bit similar,

more ruthless, but he's trying to save his pocket of humanity. He's like, fuck this. He's just like, Sarah fights, you were not part of this. We got to kill them, my phone. You guys, we didn't miss Joel at all in this episode. No. You feel guilty? Talk.

Speak for yourself. Well, I didn't. Oh, you missed Joe? So I will say this. I was just like, I believe in the Ellie and Dina of it all when the action was happening. When like, shit. What? Of it all, that's a strike.

Fuck. When the action. was happening when they was running from the zombies. When, like, Dina was about to shoot Ellie, I was just like, I see the vision. When Ellie picked up the guitar and started to do it the fucking

one-man gosser, I was like, I don't know about all this shit. You're Charleston. You're charleston right now. I don't know about all. Joe Me, call out the Charleston. Your Charles right now. That scene... That was beautiful. Because it always is beautiful. You say you missed Joel. I'm watching the scene and I'm here, I'm here. I'm

I'm hearing, I'm hearing, I'm hearing Ellie sing, and all I can imagine is just like, it's super pulse, hurry Joel, just like going around, like, like an edit or whatever. I'm just like, in my head, I'm just like, man, think about the memories her and Joel had. Like, that's all she has of him left is to play that guitar and think about the songs that she taught him, right? That's Joe continued. When they leave and the shot of just a guitar is in there, she's kind of, like leaving a part of her behind to go chase after her, his killer.

Wagon? That messed something to me, buddy. Yeah. Messed something to me, dog. It was beautiful. Get that corny shit out of it. Damn. I thought nothing.

I felt, I felt, here's a thing I will say. Also, it wouldn't have been the song I would have chosen. Take on me? Well, I do like. Well, remember, Joel and me are like the same age. Actually, I think he might be a year younger. Well, no, Joe's canonically, like, 60 when he dies. Yeah, but I think he was born in, like, 80,

or 81. Oh, sure, yeah. Yeah, so, I mean, it's... In this far flow... So that's what you're teaching to your... The song you teach it to your Cove. It wouldn't have been me,

but at the same time, it probably would have been songs from that era. Yeah. You know, if I had a guitar, I guess, so Joel's born in what? 80 or 81, 78, 79? Look at Joe's... Like, like, so for me,

if I was teaching songs to my Cubs, and it was the songs that mattered, it would probably be like, baby-faced whip-appeal. Ooh. Something you could play on a guitar, though? In the HBO series, he's born in 1968, 1967. 67?

Yeah. God damn. Oh, wait, I guess that makes sense because what year is it? What year is it right now? Like 2026. Yeah. It's, oh, okay, so no, then I'm fucking totally wrong. Wait, so then he's born in 1967, so he is, take on me as the music of his, of his youth.

Yeah. So he's like, he's in high school, not in high school, but he's like, Like, like, 15, 17, 17. So I'm like, you don't have to call. It's okay, girl. Like, you know what I'm saying? Get Dina. Like, teaching press and tiller.

That's from 8701, though. So that shit was barely out. That didn't get a chance to be class. You don't think, you don't think Joel wasn't listening to No Usher? I don't think. I mean, 03. I don't know how much. I mean, maybe, but can you play UCH on the guitar, though, for real?

Yeah. You can play some Usher joints. You couldn't, I don't know if you could play you on. I mean, I'm sure you can. play you don't have to call. We're going to say this and then there's going to be some kid. I'm going to cover usher. Confessions came out in 03 though.

Confessions. Did confessions come like? Did confessions make it? We didn't get confessions. Dog, I'll be singing that shit right in front of Jesse. But honestly, yeah, honestly, that's the song that they should be playing confessions. Because you got the girl pregnant. You know what I mean?

Right. That's Jesse's confession. Dog. Can you imagine? Jesse, like, living his. life right now peaceful. He don't know he's got a baby all the way. Jesse and I live in, Jesse are hitting other holes.

You, well, you don't think. Jesse's having sex with other great young women. Yeah. Maybe some guys because you never know. There you go. You know what I mean? Whatever. I want to see Jesse do the Usher Slide.

It's like, oh my God. Jesse, the Healy's. The Healy's. But I enjoyed the scene. I thought it was, I thought it worked well. At first, it's a, so that's a version of pluck. So at first, yeah, that's kind of... Is it? Yeah.

Yeah, it's a version of pluck. It's not... How so? Musicals are plucky. That wasn't a... Okay. So music numbers, sometimes... It's by kids, especially.

Sometimes it's pluck. Finding a guitar that reminds you of your father is very plucky-coated to me. But it didn't play out plucky. When I was sorry watching it, she sang so beautifully. and it was so well acted. Dina was crying. She was teared up a little bit. It worked and it was a tribute to her father figure in the whole night.

I thought it was a very... And imagine how rare something like that is in a time like this. Somebody playing a guitar with like aptly played music. Like that doesn't happen that much probably. I think it probably happens a lot. Like in Jackson, sure. But like around like all of this rubble that you find this perfectly preserved guitar. Oh, you're talking about in that type of situation.

Yeah, yeah. Like amongst all of the. this? In the apocalypse, if you got the voice, you know what I'm saying? If you like sang in and you can dance, you got like Chris Brown moves or some shit in the middle of the apocalypse, you are going to kill it. Like,

there's no entertainment. Did Chris Brown come on? Hold on real quick. Look at the top right screen up there. Look how brawlick I look right here. Alea. This is why we can't have the confidence monitor. Yeah, we can't have. I'm turning that off. I'm turning that off. I realize it.

Alea. You zoom in on this. No, I'm not going to He's going to do that. He's going to see you were looking at yourself 10 minutes. Look how brolic I look right now. That's why we got to get into the front lines with the gorilla. I'm turning off your lights. Don't you feel that trap?

Look how brawling over right now. Oh, brawl it. You got a light head. I'm deceased. You got lightheaded from flexing? Play the drop. Play the van is all. Man is all.

They got to take a second. Look. You're looking. No! You're not sweating. What happened to the man? Oh, I don't know. He just flexed his bicep and he started sweating.

Jesus crazy. You brought up the whiteboard talking about 100 niggins. Can't be in a gorilla? You sweat. You're flexed, bro. This is crazy. I held it too long. I apologize.

These guys got to watch on YouTube if you want to see. Yeah, I just fucking embarrass myself. Jesus Christ. You just need lightheaded. You need water? Jesus. Oh, man. Wow.

That was great. Oh, wow. Okay. It doesn't get better than that, folks. All right. So where we're at now, the show is at a favorite page of drama. Last question I'll ask before we get out of here. Do we need to check back in in Jackson or?

Well, that's the thing. Like, it feels like something's going to be happening. when, you know, the people that are closest to Ellie know that she's gone. You know, probably Tommy might have a reaction to that. We'll have to see. I don't know, I don't really know where the show is going to be taking us. Like, the game's been, the game's narrative has been laid out, but the show's been taking some, like, liberties as to what it shows us and when.

So kind of anything's on the table right now. I like, here's the thing. I would, like, check in on, like, Tommy and Jesse. Those two, like, the dynamic duo. That's funny. Yeah, like, I like, you know, just, because here's the thing. Who do we think Jesse is? What's Jesse's reaction

when he's just like, Dita ran away with Ellie? You think he's surprised? He's like, I see what it? That is like the most not surprised this thing ever. Yeah. I think even Tommy wouldn't even be surprised.

Somebody be like, you know, like these kids, but Jesse'd be like, I think his wife is gone. I mean, yeah. But I'd be interested to see like, what do they like, like what do they do after that?

Right? Is it just like, they went. Cool. Yeah, tough. We lost Dina and Ellie. See ya, guys. If I'm being real, I'm really judging Ellie in this episode just in terms of just like, once I see that these motherfuckers are blowing up shit and they got grenades and all this shit,

I'm just like, yo, go back to Jackson Hole. These people are going to fuck your settlement. This mission is looking crazy. When they were hiding out in the subway or the train or whatever that was. Crazy sequence, by the way. The insane sequence. We probably should spend it. I love that.

That was when I was like, did the lean in. I was just like, when they started running, they have to like go through the subway and shit. And then the turnstile, like, get some caught. Yeah, so great. And by the way, they are nowhere near being able to catch up with Abby. I don't know. It just doesn't see.

They wouldn't even really have an idea where she is. They're right now on a mission for survival. When they're supposed to be on the offensive, it just seems like a bunch of trouble for nothing. And I'm like, they are so in over their heads. And you guys, you game players, I guess you guys know,

like what happens and stuff, but that just deepens the intrigue for me. And it's so crazy because, like, a lot of the major consensus was, hey, yeah, let's fucking go.

They got Joel, go for it, get the posse together and do all this stuff. But like, not even two hours in Seattle. And we're like, no,

that's not working. I'm gonna be so real. I'm a, I'm a fucking coward. The minute I saw all them Sarah fights fucking killed is shit in the forest. I would have been like, hey, Dina, we got to. Let alone the hordes of zombies.

Man, I don't, I don't, because here's the thing, too. Ellie got herself fucking bitten for the second, for the second time in what, six months? Well, that was saving somebody this time. All right. Yeah. All right. I mean, but she's, she's miserable. That's why.

Dina not? Yeah, that's why she didn't get bit. Yeah, but she put Dina in the situation to begin with. I understand, but they both signed up for that. Yeah. She didn't like, and she reaffirce. Did she hold her time? Did they hold her by gunpoint?

Like, are you coming with me? Yeah. No. And by the way, that's how they're so then. Dina, if we're being honest, she's going there because that's her boo thing. She loves,

she loves Ellie. But part of me feels like Dina also feels a little bit guilty. She loves Joel too. Yeah, she loves Joel. She, like, they got the drop on her. She wasn't alive when Joel died.

She probably feels a little bit like, oh, I got to protect my lover and I got to protect my pseudo father figure. And if I'm Ellie, you got to be the bigger person and just be like, Joe wouldn't want. Because Joe wouldn't want this.

We haven't even talked about this. Would Joel even talk about this? Would Joel even want this revenge mission? No. He would have been like, what are you doing? No. He wouldn't have wanted that. He would have wanted to figure out himself

or have somebody else. I feel like Tommy even knows that. Tommy is even just like, yo, this is not the path Joe wanted you down. He tried to save you for. Honestly, that's what I'm going to I think part of the guitar is too. It's just like the guitar, especially in the apocalypse,

like we talk about it, that you're creating. That's a future. That's something that is just like peaceful. You're just communing with people. There's a reason that he fixed Ellie's guitar and taught her something and passed that down to her. And the thing that like, when she puts that guitar down,

I'm like, yeah, that's leaving that behind too. You're leaving that part of what he taught you as a father behind to do the other thing that you actually saw. which was Joe get busy and kill anybody in his way to get what he wanted. Fantastic episode of television. You guys were up. Thunderbolts was good. Endor is good.

Last of Us is good. Sinners was good. Who's going to break the streak? Oh, man. Who's going to come along and fuck up? I'm not going to say nothing. One bad vibe and I'm out. I think we safe.

We safe until probably Superman, but then there's a show that I won't name this coming up. Thanks that. But also, I want to support our sister- I don't know what you're talking about. So I ain't going to say, but. Yeah, that's a wrap. Boy, we're going to be doing some lying. Yeah.

You're not about to get us. We can do the midnight meeting now, 11. Oh. at us. I got to go home. So you think little the black girl geniuses you know, six?

Jesus Christ. Okay. You think little, okay? Think little black girls in MIT don't deserve to have their own show? Yeah. Okay.

Eleven. So 11. It's a pre-leven right now. Just go ahead and drop it. Anyway, that's a wrap. This week on the Ring of Earth's feed. Now as of all,

we'll give you their latest deep dive into the Last of Us. Monday, Yeah, I have a special spoiler-filled interview with Thunderbolts director Jake Shryan. We're on a couch. It was great. Yeah, we're all on the couch together. Oh, I'm advocating for us being a couch show now.

The couch, I like the vibe of the fucking couch. You guys. Couch cast. Couch cast. Casting couch? All right. Oh, Rice. Oh, Rice.

I watched you right into that. I watched you right in. I apologize. I threw. You're a bad show. I did that. That's freaky shit. I did that.

You know what you were trying to say because I know that there's a site. Absolutely not. I'm looking up the site right now. Why? Why are you not? Anyway, I apologize. He was lucre. You guys look at the, I'm being serious.

A lot of times you guys comments on things and I'll be honest with you, we didn't ask you for your opinions on them. Well, tough, tough. I'm just saying a lot of times. We value your opinion. Not necessarily. Not necessarily that much on the ringerverse Reddit. They tend to be actually, since I've been there, the Ringerverse Reddit tends to be very fucking wholesome

and protective of us as much as they can be. Not you. But as much as they can be. They tend to be very wholesome. But you have your whole hive on there of people that live and die for you, right? So they tend to be very, but the higher learning Reddit, Oh, yeah. It's not the same?

No. The Venn diagram is two circles? No. No, no, no. There's all kinds of things that people will talk about. It'll be like, you know, I'll say something and it'll be like this and this and that. And they'll talk about, hey, when it is. But we are actually asking you guys' actual opinion.

So please help us. We were on a couch for the Joel Shrier interview. The same couch that we were on for when Joe, when we did. the collab with Joe recently and the Ring of Versa Awards. Right. So when Jake was here, we were on a couch. You guys tell us what you think. Of the couch. Of the couch.

Tell us what you think of the way we looked on the couch. Did it work? Was it cool? Do you like the couch better? Do you like the semi-circle table better? You guys tell us, okay? Cool. All right. We're asking for that. This time. All right.

Also, we'll have Andor reactions and deep dyes for you guys as well. My producers are Steve. All right. I take almond. Jonathan Kerma! Alea Zanaris! I don't make a dinner on our socials. Hashtack Aquafina Jomi.

Oh, yeah, without a wrong pipe. Additional production from Arjuna Ramgapal. Chuck, take us out. Ellie is the father who stepped up. Jeffrey Wright certainly set the tone. And after this episode, Van, is officially a no flex zone. Boom!

Can be honest with you guys? We've already won. We came into the guerrilla's backyard and took his shit. That he's true. We're like even playing fields, though. Oh, but I just would like to let people know that certain media figures reached out to me. Oh, yeah?

And they were trying to get on me for cooking up a strategy against the gorilla. I actually had one very prominent media figure saying that I shouldn't encourage people to be violent towards something that's big and black. All right, man. All right. I just thought of me.

I love this guy. I love this guy. Racism. This is one of the best guys. But we having fun with the gorilla. I love this guy. I can't do that. I love this guy, by the way.

Did you see the tweet that was like, hold on, let me pull it up. If I can read a verbatim. It's just like, we can't have fun no more, man. We can't do nothing. The world is. is ending. Can we just talk about like fucking trying to beat up a gorilla, God damn.

The niggas was hitting me up and they was like, if you only put this same type of thought into freeing our people, I'm like, bro, for God's sake. I wish. I don't mean to have discourse. Wait a second. Wait a second. People are anti-fun. That's not for you to comment. They're just putting too much pressure on you, Van.

Oh, you brought it back. Yeah. Why is that only your responsibility? Thank you, Steve. Let's go, Steve. Thank you, Steve. That's the same the life time, boy. Steve was like motherfucking Patrick Wall right there. Thank you, Steve. Brought it all the way back. Outline's good.

Layer, are we good in there? Hey, I want this to make the podcast. I want this to make the podcast. I want right now, everybody that's listening, even if this is in post-cratus, I want everybody to show special consideration

and appreciation for Leia and Kerm for the Midnight Collective. They weren't very hard. And they don't get paid in accolades like we do. Like people... Who gets paid in that? Fuck you, Van! They don't get the...

They don't get the feedback from the audience and a lot of the times the praise, but we want to make sure that more than just the acknowledgement at the end of the show that we make sure that we say thank you to Alea. Thank you to Jonathan Kerma. Thank you to Arjuna Ram Gapal. Ramka Pau and everybody else

who works so hard. Everybody behind the scenes works so hard to make the show. So we really do appreciate it you guys. It's been, we're doing a lot of work. So thank you guys. Van owes me $30. See, Alleya just can't be, Alea can't do it.

Hey, $30 is crazy. I do. Alia can't do it. That's got to be a very specific ask. Alea can't do it. I think Alaya is actually allergic to praise. I want to start praising Alaya so much because she's got to,

She needs that tension. That's why she's going to run my company one day. Then she's going to run my company. Then she's going to have her own company. I'm going to have my, I'm going to have my, our film company is growing. Alaya's going to run the company. I promise you. I keep saying that y'all think it's bullshit.

Not you, Steve. Not me. Don't need another white CEO. Nope. Oh, my. I can get to last of us. It's a real shame. What's the difference between butter and butter made from real California dairy?

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